Thursday, December 03, 2009

QRP To Go

For various reasons I haven't done much portable operating this year. But one of the things I like to do with my portable gear is put together complete ready-to-go stations. My memory is not too good these days and if I have to just pick the bits off a shelf when getting ready to go I'm sure to forget some vital component such as the antenna, key or a connecting cable.

Today I assembled a complete portable station to go based around the HB-1A QRP transceiver. The case is Technobag which I ordered from CPC. Annoyingly, the case did not have a foam insert in it although the catalogue claimed it is supposed to include one. Fortunately on the same day something I ordered from eBay arrived and the seller had used a large piece of foam as packing material. I cut it to fit the case and then made cut-outs for all the parts of the portable station.

The HB-1A is at one side at the bottom of the case. Next to it, standing on its side, is the Elecraft T1 antenna tuner. Next to that is the charger for the internal batteries (I modified the HB-1A to allow the batteries to be charged internally.) I wondered about including that, but this is quite likely to be the station I would take with me on holiday so it was convenient to put it in there. I can always take it out to save weight when going out for the day from here.

Above the HB-1A is a Bulldog BD-2 Mini-Key with magnetic base, which sticks firmly to the radio's steel case. I shortened the cable provided with it for convenience and put some vinyl tape over the base to help avoid scratching the radio's paint. Next to that is a BNC to binding post adapter for the antenna wire.

In the lid of the case held with Velcro fastenings are the antenna wire and counterpoise wire, and the cable to connect the T1 to the HB-1A. I normally forget that! The black net bag contains a pair of Sony headphones. All I need are a notepad and pencil, and that's that. A portable QRP station, all ready to go! A pity that winter's here, because I'm not fond of the cold and damp (yep, I'm a wimp!) and don't anticipate doing any portable operating now until Spring next year.